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Understanding Snacking: Definitions, Motivations, and Nutritional Improvement
What is a snack, why do we snack, and how can we choose better snacks? A review of the definitions of snacking, motivations to snack, contributions to dietary intake, and recommendations for improvement.
Hess et al. (2016) begin by mentioning the benefits of defining a snack and distinguishing between meals and snacks, since the labeling of a food as one or the other may affect an individual’s food choice and possibly their satiety after consumption. The purpose of this review was to examine the definition of extra eating events, to understand the rationale for eating at these times, and to discover the commonly decided food choices, in order to suggest dietary interventions for improving these habits. In part 1, the writers discuss how snacking is defined, and how an individual’s motivation to snack and snack choices can be influenced. In part II, they present popular snack choices, overall snacking frequencies, and the demographics (across several countries) of those who snack frequently. The authors also inspect snacking’s relationship with cardiometabolic health markers. This review is concluded by an encouragement to promote nutritious snacks with the goal of preventing nutrient deficiencies. [NPID: behavior, snacks, snacking, meal times, timing, satiety, eating times, nutrient deficiencies]
Year: 2016
